


The Origins of Dwarven Geology

by dragonfemmefatale



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Ancient Thedas, Ancient dwarves, Geology, Science, pre-Veil, pre-fall of Titans
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-01
Updated: 2016-09-04
Packaged: 2018-08-12 04:35:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,526
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7920697
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dragonfemmefatale/pseuds/dragonfemmefatale
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dwarves were born into the Stone, but that doesn't mean they've always correctly understood it.</p><p>Eilidh Sorcha was born as a dwarf living in a Titan, in a world where the Veil did not yet exist. Dwarves were already gifted at shaping stone and metal, but had a long way to go by Dragon Age Thedosian standards. </p><p>This is a collection of brief, interconnected snippets about how one dwarf helped propel them there.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. An Ancient Dwarven Childhood

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Looking Glass](https://archiveofourown.org/works/4867676) by [Feynite](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Feynite/pseuds/Feynite). 



> While this was inspired by [Feynite](http://archiveofourown.org/users/feynite)'s interpretation of Ancient Elvhenan, this is my own interpretation of Ancient, Titan-era Dwarva society (based on lots of Inquisition Descent DLC stuff) and can be read independently.

          Back in the time before Titans fell, when every Child of the Stone still heard her song, no dwarf could sunder what the Titans would not. No dwarves had ever seen the sky, and all felt at home in the Stone’s solid embrace. 

          Eilidh Sorcha would never know how lucky she was to be born in that time. 

          As staunchly traditional as dwarves have always been, when they became disconnected from the Stone, they clung to it all the tighter; casting out those who did not cling to the Stone “correctly”.

          As it was, Eilidh was born with the Song humming through her veins and, as had her Ancestors, she never even considered life without it. She heard it differently from most though; she heard it brimming with questions that had never been recorded in book or Shaperate.

_           Why? Why? Why?  _ It sang.  _ How? Where? Why? Why? Why? _

_           How do we all share the Song? Why is this stone black and sleek? Why is that one pink and ruddy? Where do crystals form? How do they? Why do they? _

          And as she grew, destined to be a Miner as her family has been for generations, she followed the song. Others felt it led her astray. Her curiosity leading her to flit from stone to stone, pelting her father with questions as fast as she clamoured about the tunnels, snatching up interesting bits of rock and crystal as they caught her eye and secreting them away into her pockets.

          “The Stone will provide, Eilidh,” her father always responded. “When we need stone to form knives, the Stone will show us the way to smooth black rock that can hold an edge. When we need stone to make armour, the Stone will lead us to glinting grey stones that can be melted and shaped. This is how it has always been and how it always will be, my little bat.”

          Young Eilidh stopped briefly and gave a slight huff, both at the insufficient answer and the endearment. But as quickly as she had stopped, she was on the move again as a glint of pale pink crystal caught her eye. Darting over and reaching into the slight recess the crystal was in, she disturbed some actual bats that had been resting there, sending them flying.

          Startled, she watched the colourful bats flit about the tunnel and off to find some new place to rest, away from seeking hands. She tightened her hand on her newest crystal, and put it in a pouch at her waist instead of her pocket. Her father chuckled and ruffled her hair as he caught up with her.

          “Come, little bat, we must make it to the end of this tunnel and back before dinner time. We need to retrieve some of that winding, glittering, dark orange stone you love so much, remember?”

          Looking up at her father, her eyes lit up again, “Oh yes! It matches mama’s hair! And the craftsmen make it into... into...” She stalled, sifting through her mind looking for that lesson.

          “Pots,” her father prompted.

          “Yes! Pots! And sometimes rings!” Eilidh supplied, already skipping ahead to lead her father through the mine. “Let’s go!”

          And her father followed, smiling the whole journey. A particular smile reserved only for Eilidh, and a memory she would treasure her whole life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Stones mentioned in this story, in order of appearance:**
> 
> _Obsidian_ \- black and sleek, good for making knives. Truly a stone.  
>  _Granite_ \- pink and ruddy, good for building structures, or smoothing into a glossy decorative stone. Truly a stone.  
>  _Iron_ \- grey and glinting, good for making tools, weapons, fixtures, etc. Actually a metal, but my headcanon is that ancient dwarves refer to pretty much everything as a stone.  
>  _Rose Quartz_ \- pale pink crystal.  
>  _Copper_ \- winding, glittering, dark orange. Also actually a metal, see headcanon for Iron.
> 
> And thanks to [LadySummerIsle](http://archiveofourown.org/users/LadySummerisle) for her skill as a beta! ^_^
> 
> You can find this chapter on tumblr [here](http://verolynne.tumblr.com/post/149697325424/ancient-dwarven-childhood)!


	2. Heavy Metal Problems

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eilidh's search for answers leads her to private lessons, much to her dissatisfaction.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again to [LadySummerIsle](http://archiveofourown.org/users/LadySummerisle) for beta-ing!

          At 13 years of age, Eilidh’s endless questions had finally exhausted her father’s attempts to answer and she found herself being tutored out of school hours by the Mine’s Foreman. Outside of the Shaperate itself, he was certainly the dwarf with the greatest knowledge about the variety of stones to be found. Teaching children, however, had never been a part of his job description. Eilidh’s need for answers always seemed to outweigh the boredom he could inspire.

          “And as you can see, there are three types of stone,” the Foreman droned on, gesturing at a table of rocks and crystals. 

          Eilidh had been here an hour already, and was still no closer to getting the answer she had come looking for; her examinations of crystals had stopped yielding sensible answers, and she had thought maybe the answer lay in meltstone. 

          “The Stone itself is always opaque and comes in a variety of colours with different strengths. It sings with the strongest and most varied voice. It may be dull, or lightly sparkling in appearance. Carvers and Shapers work with the Stone using chisels.” 

          The Foreman moved closer to the center of the table, lifting a small clear stone to the light, “Then there are crystals, which appear where the Stone’s humours are most out of balance.” At this, Eilidh drew a large question mark next to the passage in her notes. If the Foreman noticed, he gave no indication and simply continued pontificating, “They are often translucent, or even transparent, and come in a variety of colours and make good decoration but have little other use. You may have noticed, they sing more quietly than true stone and at a higher pitch.”

          Moving on to the far end of the table, the Foreman picked a small, smooth sample, “Finally there is Meltstone,” Eilidh’s ears perked up and she looked up from furiously scribbling in her notebook, “like the Stone, it is opaque, but rather than sparkling, it will usually have a uniform shine to it ranging from very sleek to more dull and nearly imperceptible. Meltstone melts more readily than true Stone and in this way can be formed and manipulated into useful shapes by Smiths. You can tell here that their song is more—”

          Eilidh couldn’t still her questions anymore and finally blurted out, cutting the Foreman off, “What are their names?”

          The Foreman blinked slowly at her, “Names?” he asked, confusion lacing his voice, “they don’t have names.”

          “But I’ve seen so many different kinds in the tunnels with my father! What are they called?”

          The Foreman released an exasperated sigh, “Eilidh. There are only two kinds of Meltstone. I know you are just learning, but you’ve been surrounded by them all your life, this is the sort of thing children barely out of their swaddling cloths know.”

          “But—”  Eilidh tried to begin, but the Foreman raised one finger at her to silence her.

          “No buts, Eilidh. You wanted to learn. This is what we know of stone. We have lived in it all our lives, as our Ancestors did before us. If there’s one thing we know, it is stone. And there are only two kinds of meltstone.” He picks up two samples from the table, one a dull shining grey, small but with obvious heft,  “There is grey meltstone.” The other sample was a bright shining yellow, “And there is yellow meltstone.”

          She looks at him, trying to hide her disappointment behind curious interest. 

          “We find them in varying purity,” he expounded. “The brighter and shinier it is, the purer the meltstone. Take this grey one, it is a little soft and very dull in colour. Likely, the humours around the stone that bore it were too devoid of crystal. It will still be useful for making pipes, or for fusing other pieces of meltstone together. This other one however,” he continued, indicating an abnormally shaped piece of brighter grey meltstone, “Is much purer, and can be formed to make some lovely jewellery. And over here, this one is the purest of them all and is so solid when reformed that it makes excellent armour.”

          “In general, yellow meltstones are rarer, and become softer the more pure they become. Grey meltstones are more common and become stronger with increased purity.”

          Waving his hand in a gesture at the collected specimens, his explanation continued, indicating samples including what would come to be known as Veridium and Everite, “Of these meltstones, you can see those with more blue to them, as they developed near an abundance of Titan’s blood.” Turning to indicate those that would be known as Dawnstone and Pyrophite, “these, too close to an abundance of crystal.” 

          He went on for hours, as Eilidh got more and more disappointed with what she was learning. He delved into the different balances of Titan’s blood, magma, soil and crystal and their effects on the development of different stones. Every other sentence, he’d state some fact that directly contradicted Eilidh’s own rudimentary investigations, and he would brook no dissent.

          When she finally left an hour past when they were meant to break for lunch, Eilidh had a notebook full of new theories to test. Her father was outside waiting to walk her home.

          “How was it?” he asked. “Did you get the answers you were looking for?”

          “No...” Eilidh said, trailing off. She looked around quickly before lowering her voice and leaning closer to her father, “Don’t tell him, but I don’t think he actually knows as much as he thinks.”

          Her father chuckled, “I certainly won’t, little bat. Maybe you should ask the Stone itself; you may like the answers it gives you more.” A wry, sarcastic note had snuck into his voice, but went unnoticed by Eilidh.

          _Ask the Stone_ , she thought, _ I think I’ll do just that... _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Stone mentioned, in order of appearance:**
> 
>  
> 
>  _The Stone_ \- This includes all varieties of rock; gneiss, slate, schist, sandstone, granite, etc.  
>  _Clear Quartz_ \- a clear crystal.  
>  _Iron_ \- small smooth grey “meltstone”, very versatile.  
>  _Lead_ \- dull, shining grey “meltstone”, heavier and softer than other metals.  
>  _Gold_ \- bright, shining yellow “meltstone”. Relatively soft; considered the “purest yellow meltstone” by ancient Dwarven reckoning.  
>  _Silver_ \- “purer grey meltstone”, good for jewellery.  
>  _Silverite_ \- “purest grey meltstone”, good for armour
> 
> Find it on [tumblr](http://verolynne.tumblr.com/post/149928149337/heavy-metal-problems)


End file.
